


If Not For A Cigarette

by adorkablefae



Series: Soulmates & Cigarettes [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, if you squint - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Breakups, Cigarettes, Companion Piece, Drug Abuse, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Gift Fic, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Multiple Soulmates, Non-Chronological, One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 02:59:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13285536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adorkablefae/pseuds/adorkablefae
Summary: The second breakup is the worst. No, it's the fourth, but no one knows it yet. That comes later. Breakups three and five are easy. Breakup number six lasts as many hours, so you could say that one’s the easiest of all.[standalone one shot, soulmates & cigarettes 'verse]





	If Not For A Cigarette

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jesterjamsey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterjamsey/gifts).



> jesterjamsey said 'please write the breakups' because my notes for S&C had one little line about them. It was his birthday so I did. Thanks for being my writing partner for the last million [12] years, and thanks for letting me write Hugh; none of this would have ever happened without you. Happy Birthday <3 
> 
> Title from Two Door Cinema Club's [Cigarettes in a Theater](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_sERAnqHng)

The first breakup isn't really a breakup, because Kila isn't even sure if they are going steady, but she does tell him she doesn't want to talk to him for a while because he can't be arsed to talk to her. Hugh calls her three weeks later and says he's home; he’ll be off for three days. She goes straight over and they totally fuck on the kitchen counter.   
  
The second breakup is the worst. [No, it's the fourth, but no one knows it yet. That comes later.] Breakups three and five are easy. Breakup number six lasts as many hours, so you could say that one’s the easiest of all.   
  
The fifth time they break up, it's because she just cannot stop sleeping with other people. He tells her that he's over it and that's that. In the following 48 hours she gets a new phone number, stops going to those particular clubs, and promises she'll behave. She's not 22 anymore anyway and it's honestly getting kind of old, so it's not really that much of a sacrifice; not that you could tell by the way she bitches about it to Darcy and grovels to Hugh.   
  
He takes her back because she's moderately convincing and he loves her. Can't not love her, their souls are intertwined by fate. It's probably a mistake, because breakup number six is for the same reason, but they’ve practiced this fight so it only takes a handful of hours to do it again.

 

[The fourth breakup is about drugs, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.]

 

The second breakup, the really bad one, that one's about Darcy. Not because she spends an exorbitant amount of time talking to or about her, to which he is accustomed, but because she hasn’t been speaking to her enough, and Hugh is kind of on Darcy’s side on this one. Kila is neglecting her in favor of him and her job and too many drugs and needs to actually call her soulmate instead of answering the phone only to talk for five minutes so she can go back to getting her rocks off with drugs, his cock, or her weird obsessive Type A fascination with spreadsheets for work. 

When Kila vents about how needy Darcy is, he shuts her down. She’s already feeling stubborn and attacked and basically lets him dig his own grave in her eyes until she finally tells him to get the fuck out of her apartment. He’s not willing to apologize for being right that she’s too wrapped up in herself to notice her soulmates pain.

She slides up to him at the bar at MacLaren’s like nothing happened six days later. She and Darcy kissed and made up obviously, and apparently he and Kila are going to pretend nothing happened between the two of them because the next thing he knows, they’re making out in the bathroom.   
  
The third one is because they haven't spoken in weeks, both too busy working. It's a curt conversation; a "see you when I see you," kind of situation. Hugh has no idea that's what she meant on the phone, but realizes after another month has passed and he hasn't heard from her. He's pretty pissed honestly, but it's been way too long to actually be mad at her and instead he just has to beat himself up for being so fucking stupid. The third breakup is so easy he didn’t even notice it—but the aftermath is ugly.   
  
He gets blackout drunk and calls her the next morning definitely hungover and possibly still a little drunk, right after he puts in to redeem some shore leave. She's still not certain it's for real until he shows up at her office, somewhere he hates coming. He gifts her carton of cigarettes.    
  
The seventh time they break up is the last. They’re fed up mostly. Can’t decide if they’re actually in this together or if fate made some horrible mistake giving them each other’s words. Maybe they should have been done after the fourth breakup. Sensible people would have been done after that one. She tells him she doesn’t understand why he didn’t just walk away then, or all the other times. He doesn’t get why she is so stuck on it when he’s over reliving it, living with her guilt and his residual anger. They’ve come so far since then, and though they never really said it out loud, they’ve agreed not to talk about the fourth time they broke up. 

 

[Because the fourth breakup is ugly. She’s spending all of her sizable Stark Industries paycheck and her precious little free time on powders, pills, and presses. Is seriously addicted but won’t get help or take it easy or even admit that she has a real problem. He can’t handle it; tries to get her help but she won’t take it, so he walks. It’s the hardest thing he’s ever done and honestly he tries to forget it ever happened. Pretend that they don’t have each other’s words scripted across their skin by fate, that those words aren’t what led both of them to pick up cigarettes, that he’s not the reason her addictive personality found footing in reality. Tries to forget he ever met her.

It doesn’t work. 

He’s addicted to her, has his own problems with alcohol and self destructive behavior, and there’s a very short list of people that want to spend much time with him—so when she calls him, he answers. She hasn’t really stopped using but she has gotten a lot smarter about it and isn’t doing it every day anymore so he sort of just… Goes with it. 

And really, as hard as it is for both of them, they pretend this one didn’t happen.]

 

Which is why the seventh breakup also takes the longest; rehashing their worst one means they’re at it most of the night. Neither of them can remember the catalyst for this fight, and she’s not even sure she would call it a fight. She’s just so fucking tired of all of it, and wants to give up. He can’t articulate a reason they shouldn’t until the next day, and when he finally thinks of what to say and calls her to say it, he still can’t get it out right. 

She takes him back because of all the reasons she cried about in the shower after he left, takes him back because of the little things he does for her, because of all the years they’ve shared, because how can you go through all that and not keep trying? She takes him back, not because of their words, but in spite of them. 

She takes him back because eight is her lucky number anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to r/fanfiction discord peeps Panoramic_Vacuum and Ergoemos for the feedback. Come chat with us! 
> 
> I really don't think you _need_ to read the main fic; though I'd love it if you did. I wasn't certain I was going to post this, so I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> I also had a really hard time picking a title for this fic; lots of stuff jumped out at me from my [Soulmates & Cigarettes](http://spoti.fi/2tmp62N) playlist on Spotify. I fell back on an old favorite—and they really wouldn't be here if not for a cigarette. 
> 
> ps. feedback is delicious


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